Apparatus for the heat-treatment of materials



APPARATUS FOR THE HEAT-TREATMENT OF MATERIALS Filed March 10, 1967 April 29, 1969 H. FLEISSNER Sheet wildrrlzrllll .v

In van/0r hE/NZ FLEISSMeK ATToE UEYS WKVIIIIIIIIII a a. v. 5

April 29, 1969 FLElSSNER 3,440,735

APPARATUS FOR THE HEAT-TREATMENT OF MATERIALS Filed March 10, 1967 Sheet 3 of 2 lnvenfar HE/Nl. FLE/QSNER United States Patent 3,440,735 APPARATUS FOR THE HEAT-TREATMENT OF MATERIALS Heinz Fleissner, Egelsbach, near Frankfurt am Main, Germany, assignor to Vepa AG, Basel, Switzerland Filed Mar. 10, 1967, Ser. No. 622,184

Claims priority, application Germany, Mar. 11, 1966,

A 51,818 Int. Cl. F26b 11/04 US. Cl. 34115 19 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for the treatment of materials, for example, the heat-treatment, humidification, conditioning, etc., of air-permeable materials, such as for example, tow, top, card slivers, fabrics, knit goods, loose fibrous material, paper or cardboard webs, non-Wovens and the like. The apparatus of the pres ent disclosure comprises a closed housing, at least one cylindrical sieve drum rotatably disposed within said housing, one longitudinal wall of said housing being substantially free from driving and bearing elements thus permitting ready access to each of the cylindrical sieve drums in said housing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatus for the treatment of materials, for example, the heat-treatment, humidification, conditioning, etc., of air-permeable materials, such as two, top, card slivers, fabrics, knit goods, loose fibrous material, paper or cardboard webs, non-wovens and the like. More particularly, the present invention concerns means for providing a more effective textile treatment apparatus together with means permitting ready access to each cylindrical sieve drum in a housing for repair and cleaning purposes.

In general, apparatus with sieve drums subjected to a suction draft are used wherein the suction draft is produced b radial fan wheels correlated to the faces of the sieve drums. In this apparatus, the fan drive is generally provided outside the treatment chamber at one longitudinal side, for example, at the rear side, and the gears and the drives for the sieve drums are generally arranged at the other longitudinal side, for example, the front side. Since these devices must be readily accessible for cleaning and also in case of disturbances of the material passage as well as for repair work, a plurality of doors are generally provided at both longitudinal sides of the apparatus. In site of these doors, extended stoppages result even with short-period work in the dryer, for example, when removing a lap, as the dryer must first be cooled down to a tolerable temperature before any work can be conducted in the dryer. Furthermore, heat-treatment apparatus with fans and heaters as well as other installations in the sieve drums which are supported outside the housing contribute substantially to the problem of accessibility due to such installations in the sieve drums. A rapid threading of the material being treated in these devices is only possible if the sieve drums which are subjected to a suction draft, are arranged in close proximity to each other so that an automatic material passage from sieve drum to sieve drum is effected. If the sieve drums are arranged at a distance from each other similarly as in devices which utilize two rows of guide rollers in which the material is treated by jetting, it becomes increasingly difficult to thread the lengths of material or the material slivers. In case of stoppages of the apparatus, for example due to mechanical breakdown, the material is either left in the apparatus, in which case the material will be damaged due to the influence of heat or the apparatus is emptied thus necessitating threading when starting up the apparatus anew. If inexpensive materials are being heat-treated, the material can be left in the apparatus and the damage due to the influence of heat can be accepted. However, when expensive materials are being treated, the apparatus must be emptied thus necessitating a difficult threading procedure for subsequently starting up the apparatus.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to avoid the prior art disadvantages in heat-treatment apparatus.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a means for improving accessibility to sieve drums for cleaning, for determining the cause of disturbances of the material passage as well as for repair work.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved apparatus for the treatment of materials wherein the sieve drums are disposed such that there is a substantial cost saving in that equipment such as fans and fan drives are not utilized.

Other objects and further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter; it should be understood, however, that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, ready accessibility to the sieve drums can be provided by keeping one of the longtiudinal walls of the housing, for example, the front longitudinal wall, substantially free from all elements, such as driving and/ or bearing elements. By keeping one longitudinal wall free from these elements, this wall can be designed, for example, completely as doors which provide ready access to the treatment chamber and the sieve drums. Furthermore, the apparatus cools down in an ex tremely short time if the front lateral wall can be completely opened.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, the front longitudinal wall can be vertically subdivided, advantageously from drum to drum, each subdivision being designed as doors which are swivel mounted, removable, liftable and/or slidable.

According to the present invention, the drum and fan drives of the apparatus are provided with external drum and fan drives at one longitudinal wall of the housing, advantageously at that longitudinal wall of the housing which is adjacent to the fan means. This leaves the other longitudinal wall substantially free from means which would interfere with the manner for providing accessibility to the sieve drums according to the present invention.

In another feature of the present invention, the sieve drums can be suported unilaterally, that is, on one side only. Furthermore, in an apparatus wherein the fan chamber is arranged at the faces of the sieve drums, and the fan chamber is separated from the treatment chamber by a wall, the sieve drum shaft may, in a further embodiment of unilateral construction, extend through the fan chamber and may be supported preferably at 'both walls of said fan chamber. If no installations are provided in the sieve drums except for the baffles which interrupt the suction draft at those portions of the sieve drums which are not covered with the material being treated, the sieve drum may be connected with the sieve drum shaft, rigidly, at both faces. When sliver-type materials which can be stressed in the longitudinal direction are being treated, it

is frequently possible to use sieve drums without such bafiies. In apparatus with stationary baffles in the sieve drums, the sieve drum shafts are designed as hollow shafts and a stationary axis is disposed in the sieve drum shaft, on which axis the battle is supported. This design offers the advantageous feature that in adjusting and readjusting the baflie, it is not necessary, as presently known, for the operator to enter the sieve drum through a manhole to adjust the baffle. Rather, the baffle can be adjustd from the outside by merely swiveling the axis which supports the baffle. It is only necessary to provide an arresting device at the outer end of this axis. According to the present invention the sieve drum is advantageously and rigidly connected at the fan side with the sieve drum shaft via a drum spider and at the side away from the fan, the sieve drum is supported on the stationary axis which supports the bafile means.

With an apparatus with a fan wheel correlated to the face of each sieve drum and arranged concentrically thereto, the fan bearing is designed as a hollow shaft and the sieve drum shaft is passed through the fan wheel and the fan hearing. If it is desired to avoid designing the fan bearing in such a manner, that is, if the sieve drum shaft is not to be passed through the fan wheel, the fans, according to another embodiment of the present invention, can be arranged eccentrically to the sieve drums, that is, eccentric to such a degree that the sieve drum shaft is situated outside of the fan wheel.

According to another feature of the present invention, it has been found to be advantageous to design the suction ducts of the sieve drums such that at least two sieve drums are connected with only one fan wheel thus subjecting two sieve drums to a suction draft caused by one fan wheel. In utilizing this design, there is a substantial cost savings in that equipmnt such as fans and fan drives are not utilized. The overall apparatus will thus be less expensive.

The sieve drums can also be supported on rolls on the side where no fan means is located. Accordingly, a raceway may be provided for a three-roller bearing, wherein a number of rollers, for example, two rollers, may be arranged at the outer running surface of the raceway and one roller at the inner surface of the raceway so that the raceway is guided by rollers on both sides and is safely and securely held by a three-point guidance system. The rollers for all of the sieve drums or for a group of sieve drums in the case of an apparatus with a large number of sieve drums, may be mounted to a joint base plate. Accordingly, bearings which are concentrically correlatd to the sieve drums at the side away from the fan means may also be mounted to a frame and/ or to a base plate which is not connected with the removable side wall.

According to the present invention, an installation may also be provided wherein cylinders which are directly or indirectly heated may be combined with sieve drums as conveying elements. In addition, apart from the up-tothe-now usual arrangement with two rows of sieve drums or heated cylinders staggered to each other, it is now possible to arrange the conveying elements of the two rows, one above the other and to apply the material being treated alternately, that is, to require the material being treated to contact the conveying elements alternately.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention will become fully understood from the detailed description hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only and thus are not limitive of the present invention and wherein,

FIGURE 1 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus of the present invention with the sieve drums arranged in one row;

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus of the present invention with two rows of superimposed sieve drums;

FIGURE 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of another embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention;

FIGURE 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of a further embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention, and

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view of a sieve drum bearing of the apparatus of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference numerals are used throughout the various views to designated like parts, the apparatus of the present invention comprises a close housing 1 containing a front longitudinal wall 2 which is removable, tiltable, rotatable, or liftable. The interior of the housing 1 is subdivided by a partition 3 into a treatment chamber 4, with sieve drums 5 subjected to a suction draft, and into a fan chamber 6 with fan wheels 7 which are correlated to the faces of the sieve drums. Sieve sheets 8 are provided above and beneath the sieve drums in order to obtain an equal distribution of the treatment medium, for example, air. In the apparatus according to FIGURE 1, heaters 9 are provided at both sides of the fan wheel 7 as well as in the treatment chamber 4 above and beneath the sieve drums 5 and/ or the sieve sheets 8. In the apparatus according to FIGURE 2, the heaters 9 are arranged only in the fan chamber 6.

In the apparatus according to FIGURE 1 as wellas in the apparatus according to FIGURE 2, the sieve drums 5 are supported unilaterally, that is, on one side, on a sieve drum shaft 10. A bearing 11 is supported at the wall by a cast-iron spider 12. A second bearing 13 is situated in and/ or at gear 14 in the apparatus according to FIGURE 1 and at a plate 15 which is part of one longitudinal wall of housing 1 in the apparatus according to FIGURE 2. In the apparatus according to FIG- URE 1 the fan wheel 7 is arranged concentrically to sieve drum 5, thus permitting the sieve drum shaft 10 to be passed through the fan wheel. For that purpose, a fan wheel shaft 14 is designed as a hollow shaft. An electric motor 15' is provided as a drive. In order to interrupt the suction draft at those portions of the sieve drum which are not covered with the material being treated, bafiles 16 are arranged in the sieve drums in a known manner. These batfies are rigidly mounted to an axis 17 which is supported in the sieve drum shaft 10. For adjusting or readjusting the baffles 16 it is only necessary to rotate the axis 17, slightly. For arresting axis 17 a disc 28 is provided which is connected rigidly with axis 17.

In the embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention according to FIGURE 2, two adjacent sieve drums 5 are subjected to a suction draft created by one fan wheel 7 using suction ducts 20. The present apparatus is especially suited for lengths of material which are relatively dense and only slightly air-permeable and which, owing to their density, allow the passage of smaller air quantities than for example, loose wool. Apart from the fact that there is a substantial cost savings in that equipment such as fans and fan drives are not utilized in this embodiment of the present invention, it offers the further advantage that the sieve drum shaft 10 need not be passed through fan wheel 7 so that the regularly used bearing can be used for fan wheel 7.

By removing the front longitudinal wall, or by opening the doors in said wall, the sieve drums are very readily accessible, and thus threading of the material length when starting up the apparatus can be achieved with no difficulty. It is also possible, and frequently desirable, to arrange two sieve drums, each one above the other, in combination with two heated cylinders 21, and/or to use a group of sieve drums with a group of heated cylinders in combination, as in FIGURE 3. Also, it is frequently desirable to arrange the two rows of conveying elements at a prescribed distance from each other so that a larger quantity of material can be accommodated in the apparatus. This is especially advantageous for treatment processes which require a more extended treatment time, such as for example, dyestuffs and fiber setting or curing and polymerizing synthetic resin impregnations with air or steam. Furthermore, it is advantageous to arrange the sieve drums in two rows staggered to each other. As can be noted from FIGURE 4, the sieve drums can, with this arrangement, be supported on the side away from the fans on rolls 22, for example, by means of a raceway 23 for these rolls which is mounted to the faces of the sieve drums 5. These rolls 22 may be mounted jointly to a base plate 24 which is shown in FIGURE 4 by the dashdot line and which is shown in cross-section in FIGURE 5. However, as shown in FIGURE 5, it is also possible to support the sieve drums concentrically at the side at which no fans are provided by using a bearing 19 on a base plate 24. For feeding and discharging material 25, conveyor belts 26 are provided in the apparatus according to FIGURES 3 and 4. Instead of conveyor belts, rollers, a chute or the like may be provided.

In some treatment processes, it is desirable to arrange the sieve drums 5 in vertical rows one above the other instead of in one or several rows. In this situation, heated cylinders 21 may also be used in combination with the sieve drums.

The apparatus of the present invention is not only useful for drying, steaming and conditioning, but alsofor dyestuif and fiber setting as well as for polymerizing andcuring synthetic resin impregnations as applied, for example, to non-Wovens. Also, the apparatus of the present invention can be used with advantage for sizing and mercerizing, and in addition, for carbonizing wools and woolens, as well as for neutralizing.

Since modifications of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact constitution shown and described. Accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to which fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A heat-treatment apparatus which comprises a substantially closed housing containing two longitudinal wall means, at least one cylindrical sieve drum means provided with drive means and rotatably disposed in bearing means axially disposed within said housing, 'a portion of the cylindrical surface of the sieve drum means serving as a perforated conveying means, fan means provided with drive means and associated with the end faces of the sieved rum means and producing a suction draft which holds the material being treated to they conveying means, wherein one longitudinal wall of said housing is substantially free from said drive means and bearing means and wherein said longitudinal wall is removable and is further provided with means permitting ready access to each cylindrical sieve drum means in said housing.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the drum and the fan drive means are disposed outside of the housing and at the same longitudinal wall of the housing.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the longitudinal wall of the housing is adjacent the fan means.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sieve drum is supported unilaterally.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the housing is divided by partition means into a fan chamber and a treatment chamber, and wherein a concentrically disposed sieve drum shaft extends into the fan chamber and is supported at the two walls of said chamber.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a stationary baffle means is provided on the inside of said sieve drum means, said stationary baflle means being supported by a stationary axis which is accommodated by the sieve drum shaft.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the stationary baffle means can be adjusted from the outside of the sieve drum means by adjusting the stationary axis.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the sieve drum means is rigidly connected with the sieve drum shaft at the fan side thereof by a drum spider.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sieve drum means is supported on the stationary axis which supports the baflle means at the side of the sieve drum opposite said fan means.

10. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein a fan wheel is concentrically disposed at the face of each sieve drum means, said apparatus also containing a fan bearing designed as a hollow shaft and wherein the sieve drum shaft passes through said fan wheel and said fan bearing.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein fan means correlated to the face of the sieve drum means are arranged eccentrically to said sieve drum means.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein at least two sieve drum means communicate with one fan means, said sieve drum means being subjected to a suction draft by said fan means.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sieve drum means are supported on rolls.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the rolls are disposed at that side of the sieve drum means where no fan is provided.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the face of the sieve drum means is provided with a raceway comprising at least two concentric running surfaces containing roller bearings, said bearings being supported by the running surfaces on said raceway.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the rollers of all of the sieve drum means are mounted to a joint base plate at the side of the sieve drum means away from the fan means.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said base plate is not connected with the removable side wall.

18. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one heated cylindrical conveying element is combined with at least one sieve drum conveying element for providing a conveying surface for the material being treated.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, containing two rows of conveying elements, wherein said rows are arranged one above the other and provided with alternate surfaces for the material being treated.

FOREIGN PATENTS 803,904 11/1958 Great Britain.

KENNETH W. SPRAGUE, Primary Examiner. 

